Gloss Type, Working Memory Capacity & Reading Comprehension Abilty

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of gloss type (lexical and topic-level) and working memory capacity on reading comprehension ability of Iranian EFL learners. The results of statistical analyses indicated that both lexical and topic-level glosses had a significant effect on the improvement of reading comprehension ability of the participants. However, there was no significant difference between the effects of the two types of treatment on the reading performance. The findings of the study also showed that students with higher working memory capacity obtained higher reading scores indicating that working memory significantly affects reading comprehension ability.